Waiting for a Wolf
by Piecesof16
Summary: After the death of Ten2, Rose ends up back in her own universe. But what happens when she meets the current Team TARDIS, and the impossible Amy Pond? Rose/Ten, Amy/Rory, River/Eleven, EVENTUALLY Rose/Amy. AU, but that goes without saying.
1. Prologue

**A/N: Here's the prologue~ I needed a way to get Rose to start travelling alone, and here it is! Rose/Ten2, character!death ahead. Also, a GINORMOUS Thank You to my beta, driptweet, without whom this would be a lot more crappy**

Tears streamed down her face, as Rose Tyler held her husband's hand. She looked like she had been to hell and back, with her mascara smudged, her hair a mess and dark circles under her eyes. If she had noticed, she didn't care. The love of her life was lying in the bed beside her, and he only had hours left, at best. She wouldn't waste those hours on something as mediocre as personal grooming. He was worth so much more than that, and knowing she wasn't there for him during his last hours, even for a minute... it was something she didn't even dare to think about. She had made her choice a long time ago, and it would always be him.

Although she knew her mother had hoped she'd finally stay at home and out of trouble, neither her nor the Doctor were the domestic type. Even with the option of settling down and living together for good, the need for adventure was just too great. They had a piece of TARDIS coral thanks to the other Doctor, and using a few of Donna's tricks, they had managed to grow their own time machine in less than a year. It allowed them to travel together again and during that short tome, Rose was certain things would stay as they used to be – maybe they would even be better.

But the Doctor had grown ill, and steadily, his life faded away from him. It started slowly – he would get stuck sometimes during his ramblings, as if he were a machine that was overheating. Neither Rose nor the Doctor thought anything of it at first – they put it down to fatigue. But his ill health picked up it's speed, and soon he began to suffer from headaches that became more and more serious over time. Of course, he had tried to hide his problems from Rose – he didn't want to worry her. But before long the pain started to take it's toll, and not even the painkillers were able to hide it anymore. His stamina dropped severely, and he was having more and more trouble keeping up with Rose during their endless amounts of running, which forced them to stop travelling.

After that, it didn't take too long for them to realize what was had never been a timelord-human metacrisis before, and when Rose had asked about it, she realized it was because there simply couldn't be one. There was a reason timelords needed 2 hearts, not just for regeneration purposes. Human bodies weren't made to contain timelord souls, and they never would be.

In the end, all she could do was watch the most important man in her life slip away, and she could do nothing about it.

She had never felt more powerless.

"I didn't mean for it to end like this, you know?" He said, sounding weak and broken. It was so unlike the man she had know.

"I know."

She wanted to smile at him. She wanted to reassure him. She wanted to make him believe she was going to be okay. She couldn't. She loved him, and the thought of him leaving her again was unbearable to her. She wanted to cry out and beg for someone, something, to save him. To save _her._

It wasn't fair, she thought. She had come all this way, she had sacrificed so much to be with him, to stay with him. She had left her family without even as much as a goodbye to travel with him. She was sure they would be together forever. Why couldn't they be together forever? Why was it that someone, or something, always had to rip them apart?

"You could've told me a timelord-human metacrisis couldn't survive that long." She joked, making a weak attempt to lighten the mood.

She regretted it almost instantly. He looked away in pain, and Rose mentally scowled herself for not thinking before she spoke.

"I didn't know..." He whispered, his already weak voice barely audible, which only hurt her more. A few tears fell on his hospital gown as she leant over to kiss him.

"I know, I'm sorry." They fell into a comfortable silence for a while, never letting go of each other's hand. Soon, though, the inevitable but heartbreaking words broke the silence.

"Not long now."

Rose shook her head, unable to speak. She was certain she would just cry. Her lips were trembling, and silent tears rolled down her cheeks. The Doctor squeezed her hand softly, as to reassure her he was still there, even though they both knew he wouldn't be for long.

As they were lying next to each other, his arms embracing her and her head lying on his chest, Rose started crying. "I don't want you to go."

After a while, Rose lay with him on the bed, and they remained peacefully next to each other, his arms around her, her head on his chest.

"I don't want you to go." Rose admitted as she cried.

The Doctor kissed her head and hugged her tighter. He wished things were different. It had killed him as he watched her slip away that day, after the battle of Canary Wharf, and it had hurt even more to leave their goodbye unfinished. He had known they would probably never be able to spend their lives together, but she had been ripped out of his life way too soon for his liking. He'd been distraught.

When she came back though, blazing in courage and passion, he had dared to hope. If 2 whole universes were unable to separate them forever, he couldn't think of anything that might have a fighting chance.

Oh, he had been certain they would be happy together.

But it seemed like their happiness never got to last too long. Yes, they had gotten married. Yes, they got to travel together again.

He had never imagined it'd end like this, where they were both so helpless. He had always thought he'd die in battle – or maybe of old age, now that he was human. This just seemed wrong to him. He couldn't leave her, not like this.

"And I don't want to leave you... But it's not up to us."

He spoke slowly, conserved his energy. He wanted his remaining time to last as long as possible.

He stroked Rose's beautiful blond hair. She buried her face in his chest, her cries reduced to sobs. He knew how much this must hurt her, how terrible she must be feeling. He knew that when he died, a part of Rose would die with him. He knew, because he had been through the same thing when he first lost her.

His heart had ripped apart when he lost her, but at least it had been quick for him. In a way, that had been an advantage. Rose had watched him slip away for nearly a year now, and it hurt her more every day. He could see her suffering, and it pained him. He didn't want Rose, his Rose, to suffer through all that.

"Rose... Rose, look at me."

Carefully, Rose lifted her head from his chest to look at him, her vision slightly blurred by the tears in her eyes.

"I need you to do something for me... I need you to promise me something." He said, as she nodded.

"Anything."

"Do you remember what I said to you all those years ago? When I sent you home, away from the Daleks, because I was certain I wouldn't survive?"

Rose nodded; how could she forget? She had hated him for leaving her like that, for having to pretend she'd be okay, even though they both knew otherwise. She remembered how the TARDIS emergency protocol had kicked in, showing a hologram of her Doctor, telling her to carry on, and have a fantastic life, and let this old box gather dust.

"When I'm gone," he said, his voice wavering, "I want you to do exactly that. But don't let the TARDIS go. I want you to carry on our work. There are people out there that need your help."

He smiled weakly.

"I've known you long enough to know that ordering you to stay safe won't give you the fantastic life I want you to have, so I want you to keep her."

She smiled, even through her tears. He knew her too well.

"You know how to fly the TARDIS, so it's yours now. I want you to carry on travelling, helping people like we did before."

"But it won't be the same without you." She said, still sobbing. He cupped her face with his hand and placed a feather light kiss on her lips, before resting his forehead against hers.

"I know... but I need you to try. You made me better, Rose Tyler, and the world needs someone like you. Promise me, Rose. Promise me you'll do just that."

Rose swallowed and looked into her husband's eyes for one of the last times. After all these years, after all they had been through, his biggest concern was still her well-being. She knew he would do anything to make her smile, and even though he couldn't prevent his death, he was leaving her with his greatest legacy.

Rose knew he'd die for her if he had the chance, he had always been very protective when it came to her. How could she ignore his final wish? "I promise."

She kissed him again, slowly and sweetly. It was unlike the passionate kisses they had previously shared - this kiss was filled with hurt and love, and most importantly, goodbye.

Neither of them wanted this moment to end, and as they were laying there, caught in each other's embrace. Rose thought for a moment that maybe she'd be OK. She was soon reminded, though, that nothing lasts forever, and he flinched in pain as they parted.

"Doctor? Doctor, what's wrong?" she asked, her voice filled with panic, even though she didn't really need an answer to that question. His final days were nearly over.

The Doctor didn't reply, he just had his hands covering his ears, whimpering in pain. Tears were now falling from his eyes, and Rose took both of his hands, trying to reassure him as he had tried to reassure her.

"Don't leave me, please don't leave me." She begged, although part of her knew it'd be in vain.

She cried, screaming for help as the Doctor seemed to be in more pain than ever. Oh, how much she'd give to take his pain away. Here she was - Rose Tyler, defender of the earth. Who had slain daleks and saved entire civilizations, yet couldn't do anything to prevent the loss of the only man she had ever truly loved.

A team of doctors stormed into the room, telling Rose to step aside as they tried to make sure her husband was in as less pain as possible. She wanted to refuse, as she wanted to stay with the Doctor as long as possible. But she knew she had to obey them – if anyone could save him, or at least give her more time with him, it were them.

She never let go of his hand, though. She couldn't bear to let go of him, not now. Not when he may only have seconds left to live.

Rose tried to make out what the Doctor was saying, as his whimpering grew louder. The medication seemed to have little effect. "I don't want to go, please don't make me leave. I don't want to go."

The words broke her heart, and she cried.

After a few more cries from her Doctor, he fell silent. His head fell back into his pillow, and he opened his eyes to look at her. She inched closer, and he lifted his hand to gently caress her face. "Rose... I l-"

His hand fell back onto the bed, and the hand Rose was still holding slowly grew colder and colder. She knew it was over. He was gone. He wouldn't come back. He wouldn't regenerate. And Rose Tyler had never felt this alone before.

**A/N-2: And? What did you think? Please review, they make me smile like Matt Smith with a badger :)**


	2. Chapter 1

**A/N: Second chapter here! Rose meets Amy for the first time. Set about a year after the alien adventure in the Eleventh hour, and a year before Amy starts travelling with the Doctor. Rose/Amy friendship. Unbeta'd, so all mistakes are mine, and I still do not own Doctor Who.**

**Also, thank you so much for all the story alerts/reviews/favorites, I just love seeing them in my inbox. They make my day, really!**

It took Rose about 2 weeks before she got to keeping her promise to the Doctor. The first week she just sat at home, barely eating or sleeping - although plenty of people tried to prevent her from isolating herself like that. But she wouldn't listen to most of them. SHe had no reason to.

It had sunk in that he, the one she had planned to spend the rest of her life with, was gone. The fact that he would never come back to her was something she had realized, but that was about it. Moving on was something she didn't even want to think about, no matter how many times her mother tried to convince her otherwise. She felt as if there was no point to anything anymore.

During the second week, however, Jackie had had enough of her daughter's sulking and moping around. Seeing her daughter like that, lifeless and hollow, broke her heart. She knew how much that man had meant to her, and she knew he'd do anything to protect her. But in a way, he had always been a danger to Rose, and she had never really liked him for it. And even now he was gone, he still managed to hurt her daughter. She simply couldn't accept that.

She got Rose to go outside on occasions other than the funeral she had attended. She got her to eat, sleep, and she even helped her pack her belongings. Jackie new her daughter wouldn't be staying here, and even though it hurt, part of her knew it was for the best. She had a new family, and a new child to look after, and Rose had always been happier travelling than being a shop girl. She knew about the promise Rose had made to the Doctor, and if that meant she'd stop wasting her life away, she had no choice but to support that decision.

14 days after the death of the Doctor, the entire Tyler family had gathered at Bad Wolf Bay. Rose watched them as they stood in front of the TARDIS – her TARDIS. It would probably take quite a while before she got used to that little fact.

She wasn't as sad about leaving as she should be. This beach, her hometown, even her family; they all reminded her too much of the man she loved. She simply couldn't bear to stay. Furthermore, she had a promise to live up to.

"You aren't mad at me, are you?" She asked her mother, who shook her head.

"Can't say I'm pleased with it, but there ain't any stopping you, is there?"

Rose smiled, glad her mother understood. She knew that if anyone had a problem with her leaving, it'd be Jackie. But both mother and daughter had agreed it'd be for the best. They hugged goodbye, before Rose shook hands with her father. After all these years, they still hadn't really gotten used to the whole father-daughter thing.

"Take care, Rose." Pete Tyler said.

"Of course." she replied, before turning around and opening the doors of her TARDIS.

"Will you be coming back?"

That was Jackie speaking, and Rose paused. She wasn't sure about what to say about that. She knew it would be rather unlikely; she loved her family, but all that was waiting for her here was heartbreak and a lot of memories. She wasn't sure she could handle that. Not yet, at least.

"Maybe someday. Take care of Tony for me, okay?"

She didn't have the guts to disappoint her mother by telling the truth. She probably wouldn't be coming back, but telling her that... No, they were probably better off waiting. And maybe she'd change her mind later on, who knew.

She looked back at her family once more, before she entered the TARDIS and shut the door.

The control room felt empty, even with the familiar warm buzz of the engines, filling the room as always. She reached out for a hand she knew wouldn't be there, waiting for the sound of his voice, rambling away about the placed they would go and the adventures they'd have. As the control room remained silent, she sighed. It just wasn't the same without him.

She suppressed her tears as she made her way over to the main console, dumping her bag in a random corner. She would clean that up later, she thought. She flicked a few random switches, and entered a few random coordinates. She didn't really care where she would be going. She felt as if it didn't matter anymore. If he wasn't there beside her, rambling on and on about the wonder he had seen and couldn't wait to show her, it just seemed pointless.

But she had promised him she'd carry on. She had promised him to continue their work, even if that meant doing it alone. She started the engines, and with the familiar 'vworp-vwrop', she was on her way.

* * *

><p>Meanwhile, in a big house in Leadworth, Amelia Pond was getting ready for bed. It had been a year now, since her imaginary friend - her raggedy Doctor - had shown up again. In fact, he hadn't just 'shown up'. He had landed back in her backyard - after 12 years and 4 psychiatrists, mind you – then had saved the world from aliens, then called back the aliens to send them away for good... And then he had just ran off, again.<p>

She wondered if he would ever come back for her, if he would ever take her on that trip he promised her 13 years ago. She was seriously starting to doubt that. If it hadn't been for the fact that she actually met him again a year ago, and if she didn't have Rory to confirm that, she would probably have given up by now.

She smiled as she though of her boyfriend - or fiancée, as she got to call him now. Him and Mels had been the only one to put up with her little obsession with the mad man and the blue box. Mels a little more than Rory, but that girl had always been slightly odd.

Just as that thought crossed her mind, a familiar noise sounded from her backyard. Amy's eyes widened in shock; she knew that noise. She had heard it before, and it still haunted her in her dreams.

As she ran to the window and looked outside, she had a lot of trouble containing her joy. In her backyard, at nearly the same spot it had landed before, was a big, blue box.

Not caring about the fact that she was in her nighty, she ran downstairs as fast as she could, before the box could disappear like it had done before. She was not letting him get away now.

Rose sighed, as she turned away from the console after she had landed. She had no idea where or when she was, but frankly, she didn't really care. She still felt it was pointless, all of it. She hoped that feeling would be over soon, so she could go back to enjoying her travels. She rather doubted it.

"Well, let's see where I ended up this time, aye?" She made her way to the TARDIS doors and pulled them open, revealing a backyard of a big house, and a ginger girl in her nightgown, who stared at her in confusion.

"Doctor? Is that you?"

The girl's Scottish accent surprised Rose a little, and she remembered her trip during which she met queen Victoria. She had tried speaking with a Scottish accent, but had failed miserably, and the Doctor had encouraged her to never, ever try that again.

"Emm, no, actually, I'm Rose Tyler." She started hesitantly, unsure of what was going on here. How could someone she had never met before know about the Doctor? But she didn't have much time to think about it, before the girl spoke again.

"Then where's the Doctor? Because this," She motioned at the TARDIS, "is his, right?It's his time machine, I've seen him with it often enough."

Rose stepped out of her TARDIS and closed the door, studying it for a few seconds. From the outside, it looked exactly like the TARDIS she had used to travel in: A big, blue police box. As soon as their TARDIS had grown completely, she and the Doctor had travelled back to 1963, where it took the shape of a police box.

As soon as the Doctor had been satisfied with their TARDIS' appearance, he had stepped inside and wrecked the Chameleon Circuit, claiming he had grown fond of travelling in a Police Box. He had told her that travelling with a working Chameleon Circuit, which caused the TARDIS to change appearance every time they landed in a new area, just wouldn't be the same to him. She couldn't say she hadn't agreed with that, so she had gladly helped him wreck that particular part.

She still wondered, however, how someone else could possibly have met the Doctor in Pete's World. She had never left his side since he got here, and she had never seen this girl before. Unless...

Slowly, it hit her that she probably wasn't in Pete's world anymore. There would be no other logical explanation for this girl knowing about the Doctor, never mind even seeing him a few times. Her heart started pacing a bit faster when she realized what this could mean.

"Well? I asked you a question!" But Rose ignored the words of the ginger girl. A spark of hope had lightened in her chest, and she was determined to find out whether it was legit or not. Starting by finding out which Doctor had visited this girl.

"This Doctor of yours, what exactly does he look like?"

Amy huffed. "As if you don't know that, you've got his space ship. Floppy brown hair, tweed suit, bowtie... Ring any bells?"

Rose shook her head. Neither the tweed suit nor the hair seemed familiar to her. She also knew none of his part incarnations had worn one, or at least not in that exact combination, and this only made her feel better. This meant that she was back in her old universe, the one she had grown up in. It also meant that the Doctor had regenerated once again. She wasn't sure if she liked the idea of him having regenerated again, but at least she knew she had a shot of finding him again. The thought of that made her smile.

"And if you'd be so kind to answer my question now?"

Rose ran her hands through her hair, wondering about how to answer the questions the girl had asked. After all, telling the truth wasn't likely to work. Parallel universes wasn't exactly something people heard about in daily life, aside from things like comic books. Then again, the girl in front of her seemed to have a certain knowledge of space ships and time machines. She figured it'd be ebst not to push her luck though, as she had no idea how much the girl actually knew.

"Okay. For starters, this isn't his. It's a duplicate, and it's mine. He gave it to me a little while back... Sort of."

Amy didn't seem too convinced by that answer, and she eyed Rose with suspicion. How could she be sure that this girl hadn't just stolen it, or had ripped it from his cold, dead hands? Her relpy sounded a lot like the 'mine... ish' replies she had gotten from Mels eacht time she had stolen something.

So far, this girl had appeared in her backyard, had emerged from her Doctor's blue box, had avoided her questions, and when she finally got an answer, it was a very confusing one. She had always pictured that box as his trademark-thing, and it all seemed rather vague in her opinion.

Rose noticed Amy's staring, and she smiled weakly. She understood her suspicions; after all, the Doctor was probably the only one crazy enough to travel through all of time and space in a blue police box.

"I didn't kill him, I swear." She chuckled. "I know it doesn't seem like it, but I can explain everything. The main problem is, you probably wouldn't believe me if I told you."

The redhead frowned. "Well, you can always try. I rather like impossible stories." She said, grinning.

She shivered as a cold gust of wind cut through her night gown, and decided it would be best to invite the blond inside. She really wanted to figure out what was going on, but freezing to death while doing so didn't seem like the best idea.

"Could you be so kind to tell me that story inside? I rather fancy not freezing while trying to listen."

Rose grinned. She realized, however, she didn't even know the girl's name.

"Sure, if you could be kind enough to tell me your name."

"It's Amy, Amy Pond." Amy replied, before turning around and hurrying inside. Rose followed her, after locking the TARDIS door with the key she still wore on a necklace. Next to the key to her TARDIS, was the key to the TARDIS she had travelled in in this universe. No matter how happy she had been in Pete's world, she could never get rid of it. She simply hadn't wanted to. She figured it'd probably come in handy at some point in time now.

"Oh, and date and location would be useful too." She added, hurrying after her.

Amy laughed. Although this girl really had some explaining to do, she found herself intrigued by her. "How can you not know what day it is?"

"It's complicated. I'll explain later."

Amy figured this would probably have something to do with the story of how she got the Doctor's blue box, so she decided not to ask that much questions about it, for now.

"October 4th, 2009, and you're in Leadworth." She said, shivering once more. "Can we continue this conversation inside, maybe? It's freezing, and I've got questions."

* * *

><p>"Tea?" Amy asked Rose, as she motioned for her to sit down at the kitchen table. She figured that, if it was going to be such a long story, she might as well get them something to drink.<p>

"Is that your first question?"

Amy couldn't help but smile at Rose's remark, and she turned around to face her, hands on her hips.

"You English people think you're so funny, don't you?" She said, putting a strong emphasis on her Scottish accent, which made Rose chuckle. She figured that, if this was going to be a small battle of accent-mockery, she might as well chip in. And she knew exactly how she'd get the upper hand over the Scott.

"Hoots mon." She said, in the same 'Scottish' accent she had used back when she had travelled with the Doctor. The same accent he had told her to never ever use again. But she thought an exception could be made this time.

Amy probably thought it was hilarious, as she had burst into laughter. She was clutching the sink for support, and could barely speak. The sight of this caused Rose to start laughing as well, and soon both girls had a fit of laughter.

"That... That was awful." Amy managed to choke out after a while. "Who even taught you that?"

"Well, I've been oot and aboot." Rose said giggling, using the same accent weird 'Scottish' accent. This, of course, sent Amy back to laughing uncontrolably.

As soon as Rose had calmed down a bit, she spoke up again.

"And as to answer your first question; I'd love some."

Ever since that first Christmas she and the Doctor had spent together, she knew a cup of tea could cure nearly anything. So far, it hadn't done much good healing the hole in her heart, but she always felt more relaxed when she drank it.

"Gotcha." Amy smiled, still chuckling a bit.

"So tell me, Rose, how exactly did you get your hands on the Doctor's time machine?" Amy asked, as she started pouring the tea

"Like I said, it's a long story... I guess I'm going to have to start at the far beginning. I mean; when I first started travelling with him."

This caught Amy's attention. She hadn't know the Doctor used to travel with other companions. After putting down 2 cups of tea on the table, she sat down, facing Rose.

"I didn't know the Doctor travelled with others."

Rose shrugged. "Well, he does... It's part of the long story."

"Okay then. I've got time. Start at the beginning."

And so Rose told her story to Amy. Of how she had first met the Doctor after being attacked by living mannequins. Of how she had travelled with him for nearly 2 years, and how she had fallen in love with him. Of how she had fought the Daleks and got trapped in a parallel universe. Of how she had come back, saved the earth, and how she got sent back to live with a human-timelord metacrisis of the Doctor. And finally, of how he had died and had left her all alone, with his last wish of her continuing their work.

Of course, Amy had questions, but Rose managed to answer most of them without raising even more questions. How come the Doctor could regenerate. How she had come back from that parallel universe. Even if the Doctor looked good in leather, as Rose had described his 9th incarnation.

After Rose had told her story it was Amy's turn to tell her about her 'raggedy Doctor'. By the time both girls had finished their story, it was 3AM.

"Wow, that sure were some long stories." The girls chuckled, and Rose got up from her chair.

"I think I should probably get going. Can't keep you up all night now, can I?"

Amy shook her head and shrugged. She hadn't minded all that much. Rose's story had been very interesting, and very heart breaking. She felt sorry for her; no one deserved to suffer that much.

"I didn't really mind. Nothing interesting to do tomorrow, anyway. Well, maybe aside from planning part of the wedding."

"Oh, that's right. You and Rory, you said?"

Amy nodded. "Yup, that's the one."

She sighed. "I'm pretty jealous of you though. You get to see the universe while I'm stuck at home planning a wedding."

"Well, you could always come with me." Rose suggested carefully. "Time machine, I can have you back here in 5 seconds." She added, hastily. "Wouldn't want to miss your wedding now, would you?"

Amy paused. It seemed like quite the oppertunity, and she'd lie of she said she wasn't the least bit tempted. She thought Rose was a nice girl, and seeing the stars sounded wonderful to her. But she had said nearly the same as her Doctor. 5 minutes had turned into 12 years, and she just couldn't do that to Rory. And who knew; maybe her Doctor would come back, and she'd miss out on him. The rational part of her told her she couldn't take that risk.

So she sighed, and shook her head. "I can't."

Rose nodded. She understood immediately. She hadn't had to think twice about leaving Mickey, she was sure she'd be back in about 10 seconds. But as always, the Doctor's TARDIS had malfunctioned. And since Amy had already waited 12 years...

"It's okay." She said, as she hugged the girl goodbye. "I'll probably see you around again sometime."

"Won't believe it until I've seen it." Amy replied, and both girls smiled at each other.

"Indeed. Well, thanks for the tea and the stories. And good luck with the wedding."

"You're more than welcome. Good luck saving the universe. Don't get killed!"

Rose laughed.

"I'll try not to." She replied. Amy waved her goodbye, and Rose left the house to go back to her TARDIS.

After she had closed the TARDIS door behind her, she smiled. She definitely felt better than when she arrived here. It had helped, talking to someone who also knew the Doctor. In a strange way, it made her feel as if she was not alone in this world.

"Amy Pond, the girl who waited." She mused. "Oh Doctor, what have you been doing this time?"

She shook her head as she made her way over to the console, entering a few coördinates, and pulling a lever. This time, she paid more attention as to where she was going. As the engines started roaring, she smiled. She knew exactly where she would be going next.

**A/N-2: And? Any thoughts on this thing? As always, reviews make me happy :) Like, more happy than you could ever imagine.**


	3. Chapter 2

**A/N: And the first, real adventure, yay~ I know Starship UK is supposed to be running already, but seeing as this is AU anyway, I thought I could just do whatever I liked. Same goes for my crappy descriptions of 32****nd**** century Cardiff. I've never been there, and decided to take some 'liberties' in describing the place, for the sake of the story. Please don't be mad!**

**As for the timeline – picture it somewhere in series 6. It doesn't really matter anyway. Amy and Rory are both travelling with The Doctor, and they are married, and that's all you need to know :)**

**Oh, and DoCtOrWhOlUvEr11 - I am planning on letting River make an appearance in this fic, but not for a little while... but I promise you. she WILL show up at some point in time.**

_**Cardiff, 3167**_

"Bye mum, I'm off."

A young girl with spiky blond hair was rushing towards the door, swinging her denim jacket over her shoulders. She'd put that on while she was walking, she thought. Now if only her mother wouldn't be holding her up too much.

"Will you be careful?"

Riley Saunders paused at the doorstep, slightly annoyed by her mother's continuing advice of 'staying safe'. She was 16 years old, she had learned the basic rules of how-to-not-get-killed by now. Despite her mother's belief, serial killers and rapists weren't waiting around every corner. Especially not in broad daylight.

"Mom, it's 3PM, not exactly rush-hour for the creepy guys. And I'm just gonna visit dad. What's the worst that could happen? Tripping, falling and scraping my knee?"

She heard her mother's laugh coming from the kitchen, and she quickly shut the front door behind her. She had no intention of waiting for her mother's reply, as she skipped off into the busy streets of Cardiff. If there had ever been a paranoid parent posing for the well-known meme, it was her mum. And she didn't feel like listening to another rant about how no one could be trusted.

So she happily made her way to the construction site at the edge of the forest. She was planning on visiting her father to tell him about her A-level results. She knew she could've just called him, or waited until dinner, but her well-known excitement caused her to dismiss those ideas. After all, A-levels were still rather important.

Her red sneakers splashed on the pavement, which was still wet from the downpour earlier this afternoon. This made her smile even more; if anything, Riley loved rain. She loved the idea of the water washing everything away, ready for a clean start. Also, the world just smelled nice after it had rained. That's why, as soon as she reached the edge of the forest, she paused to breathe in the fresh air around her.

"Petrichor." She murmured, before continuing her way to the construction site. The smell of dust after rain, although she just used the term to describe the smell of the entire world after rain. It was a bit nicer in the forest than in the city centre though.

As she strolled on, however, the sound of music captured her attention. It wasn't the usual pop, rock or techno music either. It was beautiful, yet creepy in a way. Clear voices chimed through the leaves of the trees, with flutes and other instruments in the background.

'Odd.' Riley thought. As far as she knew, there had never been any kind of orchestra or choir that practised in the forest. She paused, trying to capture the lyrics. That seemed to be something she couldn't do, although she was unsure whether that was because of the volume or the language in which was being sung.

Having completely forgotten about her A-levels, the petite blonde went out to investigate. Pushing away branches of trees and shrubberies, with her feet sinking away in the wet soil, she made her way to the source of the music.

After a few minutes of forcing her way through the forest, she halted in front of an iron fence gate. It looked old, ancient even, and she paused for a few seconds to admire the craftsmanship.

It was clear that the source of the music lay beyond those gates. The volume had grown during her way over here, and she could clearly make out some of the lyrics. Understanding them, however, was an entirely different topic.

Just like the gate, the music sounded like it was sung in an ancient language, making the girl wonder if maybe this was all part of some new historical exhibition.

She slowly inched closer, letting her hand slide over one of the bars of the gate. Just as she had suspected, it wasn't like any of the metal being used these days. She doubted if maybe the gate hadn't been made of iron in the first place, but maybe bronze instead.

As her hand touched the metal, however, the gate opened by a few inches, and her attention was drawn from the gate to the world that lay beyond it.

As she stared at the scenery beyond the gates, she gasped in awe. Through the trellis she could see a garden, but one more gorgeous than any garden she had seen before.

Just like the gate, it looked ancient. Yet the things she saw seemed to be in perfect condition, as if they were brand new.

She could see statues and fountains, all kinds of flowers and plants, and even a tiny pond. The fact that the setting sun seemed to make everything shine only added to the magical view. The fact that it was still midday, and nowhere close to twilight, went unnoticed by the girl. The scenery was just so breathtaking, it was all she could think about.

She let her hands slide over the edge of the gate, and pushed them open a bit more. Just as she was about to step through, she paused, realization dawning on her. Was she sure she could just go there? What if her parents found out she was gone? Plus, this could be considered trespassing. And she was sure her A-levels wouldn't be able to get her out of trouble if she got caught.

She quickly shrugged that thought off. She wouldn't be gone for long. Just for a few minutes, wandering around. Surely that couldn't hurt. If people asked, she could just say she was lost or something.

Also, she still hadn't found the actual source of the music. She knew it came from inside that garden, but she didn't see anyone walking, or dancing, around. And her curiosity was too great to ignore.

As she passed through the gate, however, the fence shut behind her, and both the gate and the music disappeared. There were no indications of the gate having been there in the first place, and not even the wildlife seemed disturbed by the sudden disappearance.

Birds kept chirping and the leftover drops kept falling. But as the wind blew through the branches of the trees, there was anther sound to be heard. A sound seemingly alike to laughter.

* * *

><p><em>A few weeks later<em>

The TARDIS materialized with it's usual engine noise, and the door was quickly opened by a ginger girl going by the name of Amy Pond. Not shortly after her feet had hit the asphalt on which the TARDIS had landed, she was faced with a stream of cars rushing towards her.

It didn't take her more than a second to run back into the TARDIS, slamming the door shut behind her, a look of fury on her face.

"Doctor... Move the TARDIS. Now." She snarled.

Neither the Doctor nor Rory had been able to see where they had landed, but judging by the look on Amy's face, it couldn't be too good.

"Amy, are you okay?" The Doctor asked her, sounding concerned.

"No, of course I'm not okay. You landed the TARDIS in the middle of a bloody road!"

She had to shout that last part, as the various honks of car horns drowned out most of the other sounds. The Doctor immediately rushed over to the TARDIS console, trying to fix his mistake.

"Yeah, sorry about that. Parking is still a bit... bumpy, from time to time." The Doctor said, as the TARDIS vanished, and reappeared at the side of the road, only a few feet away from it's first landing point.

"I think the middle of a busy freeway is considered a bit more than just 'bumpy parking'." Rory commented, his arms wrapped around his wife. He was doing so for various reasons. Firstly too console her, and secondly to restrain her – nearly getting killed because of a car didn't exactly please Amy, and he feared that The Doctor would be the first victim of her fury if he let her.

"In my defence, that wasn't supposed to be there."

The Doctor pulled up a small screen to do the, clearly necessary, environment checks. River had always told him to do those as soon as possible, but of course he never listened to her. Although he could see now how they could be useful every now and then. For example, to prevent his companions for getting injured in unfortunate car crashes.

"See! This is Cardiff in the year 3167, not the year 2167. Hmmm, not exactly the pit-stop I had planned."

Rory and Amy exchanged confused looks, before Rory spoke up again.

"Doctor? Why are we here in the first place? Cardiff doesn't seem like the most exciting place in the universe."

"Well, there's an understatement." Amy added under her breath. It was clear she still held the wrong landing against him, and probably would do so for quite a while. The Doctor ignored that, and continued explaining.

"Like I said, pit-stop. There's a time rift in the middle of Cardiff, perfect place for refuelling. Too bad we landed in the 32nd century though, means I can't introduce you to Jack. He's in New New York by now. Actually, that's New New New New New New New York, but who cares about an extra 'New' in the name, right?"

As he said that, the Doctor had made his way towards the doors of the TARDIS, and he was now straightening his bowtie.

"Well, now we won't be disturbed by any cars in front of the TARDIS, let's get exploring, shall we? The TARDIS needs about 24 hours, no reason to stay here."

The Doctor opened the doors and stepped outside, only followed by Amy and Rory after reassuring them there were, indeed, no cars racing towards them.

They had landed in the city centre, near the spot where the old Torchwood headquarters had been. Although the only way he was able to tell, was because of the coordinates that had shown up during the environment check.

He was slightly surprised by the current Cardiff. Glancing around he could see skyscrapers instead of the 21st century flats. The underground had gotten competition from monorails, and the amount of cars was just astounding, although there were barely any toxic fumes. He was pleased by that little fact – it meant the human race had at least found the decency to pay some more attention to it's environment. He wondered if maybe he'd have anything to do with that.

Deciding he'd worry about that later, he looked back at Amy and Rory.

The fact that Cardiff was now more of a representation to big cities like London seemed to calm Amy down a bit. Her mind was whirring, thinking of all the possible things she could do to spend the 24 hours here. She wondered if maybe she could go shopping here, and just have a nice, relaxing day. A day without having to run away from sewer monster or a giant alien fish.

Of course, trouble seemed to follow them everywhere they went, so she tried not to get her hopes up too much. Even their supposed trip to Rio had resulted in a disaster! 'Then again, a girl could dream,' she thought, as she skidded over to a store a few feet away, staring at the pieces of clothing in the shop window.

Rory, however, didn't seem to be surprised at the sight of Cardiff the big city. He had soon realized that this wasn't that odd a sight, seeing as this was the 32nd century, after all. The ex-centurion was just carefully studying the place, watching out for the trouble that was sure to ensue. He had been travelling with the Doctor long enough to be quite certain of the fact that not even a simple pit stop could be as calm as the Doctor claimed it to be. And unlike his wife, he had no intention of ignoring possible threats.

'Always the centurion.' The Doctor mused.

Deciding Rory and Amy would talk to him when they needed to, he turned his attention towards the giant screen in the middle of the plaza they had landed in. It had been showing adverts up until now – apparently, Coca Cola was still in business – but had now switched to the news.

"_... and there are no new leads on the mysterious disappearances that have occurred the past few weeks. Children from various ages and ethnicities seem to have just vanished off the face of the Earth. The police are still searching for possible eyewitnesses, so if you think you've seen anything..."_

"Doctor, have you taken a look at this?"

Rory had tapped him on the shoulder, holding a newspaper in his hand. While the Doctor had been watching the screen, he had picked up a newspaper from the street. He figured that it would be best to learn a bit about the current events in this city, before going off to explore.

The Doctor took the newspaper from Rory's hand, and he flipped it open to properly view the front page. The page which was filled with pictures of missing children, just like he had seen on the news. It didn't take a genius to know that something must be off around here.

As he read the article, he learned that every child had disappeared from a different location, and at a random time during the day. He even read a story of a young boy named Michael York, who had left the classroom to use the restroom, and hadn't been back since.

Another thing he noticed was that every child had been the son or daughter of a construction worker, which was also the only link between the disappearances. Needless to say, though, every parent was advised to take extra care of it's children, as this could just be a coincidence. He folded the newspaper back up and turned to face Rory, who had a slight look of worry on his face.

"And? What do you think?"

The Doctor sighed, part of him already dreading the fact he probably had to interrupt whatever plans Amy had made for today. Adding that up to the events earlier that day wouldn't exactly help her forgive him.

Another, more childish part of him, however, was rather excited to go out and investigate this mystery.

"The authorities are thinking their only link might just be a coincidence. This isn't a stupid idea, of course, as you're allowed to ignore a coincidence if you're busy. But we aren't busy, are we?"

Rory glanced over at Amy, who was now making her way towards the door of the shop.

"We're not, no. She is though." He said, nodding over at Amy.

Both men looked over at the store the 3rd member of their little team had disappeared into.

"Who's going to break her the bad news?"

They exchanged looks of fear, neither of them wanting to be the one to tell Amy her shopping trip was about to be cut short. She wasn't in a too decent mood to begin with, and the one to ruin her plans was sure to receive hell from the fierce ginge.

"Well, she does kinda dislike me already. You know, with the wrong landing a little while ago. If I'm the one to tell her, she'll most definitely murder me." The Doctor shuddered at the thought.

"Plus, you were the one to point it out in the first place, you should have the honour of telling her."

"So, because I care about the well being of those kids, I have to face Amy's wrath?"

"Exactly!" The Doctor exclaimed, swinging his arm around Rory's shoulder, as they made their way over to the shop.

"You're the hero this time. She likes you better, so you have a better shot at getting out of there alive. And if she kills me, who's going to fly you home?"

Rory stopped, sighing annoyed, and the Doctor knew he had won this argument.

"Fine. But at least tell me you have some sort of a plan. I can't go in there telling her she'll be dragged to various destinations with no leads whatsoever."

The Doctor patted his shoulder reassuringly, before folding the newspaper open again.

"Don't worry, I know exactly where to start. We're supposed to investigate the coincidence, remember? Which means we should start at a construction site. More specifically," he pointed at an advertisement for a new housing estate that was currently being developed. "this construction site."

The Doctor folded the newspaper up again, but just as he was about to put it in his tweed coat pocket, Rory snatched it from his hand. He was planning on protesting, but Rory just glared at him, and he decided it would be best to shut up. He had seen enough of Rory the Roman to know that, if he indeed carried his sword with him, it would be best not to annoy him.

"I'm not going in there without evidence." He said. "And if I don't survive this, Doctor, I will kill you."

The Doctor nodded his head, glad enough for the fact that at least he wouldn't be the one facing Amy.

"Understood."

Rory took a deep breath, as if bracing himself for the danger lying ahead, before stepping into the store. The Doctor could hear a faint 'here goes nothing' coming from his mouth, before he disappeared out of sight.

None of them knew that they weren't the only ones with plans of heading towards the construction site.

Meanwhile, just a few streets away, another TARDIS was parked. A TARDIS owned by a young blond female, who was currently conducting her own investigation on the missing children.

Neither knew of the other's existence in this same time and place, but that didn't matter. Rose wasn't travelling in a lousy attempt to locate the Doctor – no, locating him would just be a bonus. She was here because she had a promise to live up to.

She would find those children. She would get them home and punish whoever had taken them away. After all, she was Rose Tyler, defender of the earth.

**A/N-2: Any thoughts? The next chapter may take a little while though. Awful headaches have been bugging me for a few days now, and writing with a headache is really impossible. I hope I'll have it up somewhere next week, but don't expect it before the Wedding episode. Spekaing of which; who's excited? I know I am!**


	4. Chapter 3

**A/N: ASDFGHL; HOW AWESOME was the Weeding of River Song? I absolutely LOVED it, I really really did! Which is also the reason the next chapter may take a little while, seeing as I'll probably be distracted by rewatching that episode over and over again. Also school is being a bitch, my apologies.**

**This chapter is a little shorter than I had planned, but worked out pretty well I think. Enjoy!**

A few minutes, a lot of shouting and even more pleading later, the trio went on their way to the construction site. By foot, as they couldn't use the TARDIS, and the Doctor refused to use any type of public transportation. The sole argument he had for that was that it would be an insult to his TARDIS, but neither Amy nor Rory could convince him otherwise.

That's why they were now forced to walk about 2 miles to reach their destination, something that did not please Amy at all. The Doctor was glad for the fact that the daggers shot from her eyes as she looked at him were only metaphorical.

"Doctor, how much long are we expected to walk? It's been half an hour already, taking the monorail would've been easier." Amy complained as she plodded along.

"We're almost there, Amy."

"That's what you said 15 minutes ago." She shot back, but the comment seemed to go unnoticed by the Doctor, as he was engrossed in a conversation about sports cars with Rory.

Amy sighed. She had long since lost interest in the shops of the busy city that was 32nd century Cardiff, and with her boys talking about guy stuff in front of her, she had little to entertain herself with.

At times like these her mind often wandered off to her life before the traveling. She wondered about what would've happened if she hadn't come with him the night before her wedding, or what would've happened if Rory had indeed been erased from history.

Sometimes, she also wondered about Rose, and if she would ever see that strange girl again. She hoped she would. They had gotten along quite well that night, and it would definitely be nice to have someone who understood that talking about guy things in front of a girl is just rude.

Of course, some times River would stop by, but with the whole mother-daughter-best-friend situation going on, Amy longed for a relationship that was a lot less complicated.

She smiled at the thought of the 2 of them sitting around having girls nights, and driving the Doctor crazy by ganging up against him. They'd probably form one hell of a team together. And with Rose's knowledge of the Doctor's past, and her knowledge of the current him, they'd have enough to gossip about.

They might even be able to use those snippets of information as blackmail material to get the trips they wanted. She figured Rose would be quite good at threatening the Doctor, and she wasn't half bad herself either. They'd probably make one hell of a team, and Amy was really liking the idea of Rose traveling with them.

It wasn't a weird thing to think, she told herself. She'd be glad to have someone to talk about girl-stuff with.

And after all, she had promised she'd see Amy again one day, and Amy figured she'd want to travel with the Doctor again. She remembered how the blond had spoken of him, and she clearly loved him.

Just as that thought crossed her mind, she saw a familiar flash of blond hair popping up in the crowd across the road. Amy frowned, unsure of this was just her imagination playing with her or if she had indeed spotted Rose Tyler.

As she paused to take a closer look, she couldn't relocate the person she'd though she'd seen, so she merely shrugged it off as a plain coincidence. Blond wasn't such an unusual hair color, and just because she had been thinking about Rose was why she had thought she had seen her. But what business could that girl have in Cardiff, even in the 32nd century version?

She quickened her pace to catch up with the Doctor and Rory again, who were still engrossed in their sports car conversation. Amy sighed, just hoping they had nearly reached their destination, the thought of spotting Rose having placed in the back of her mind.

Little did she know that it hadn't been just a trick of the mind. Rose Tyler was quickly pacing over to the nearby construction site, unaware of the trio on the other side of the road.

It didn't mean the blond never dreamt about meeting the Doctor, her old Doctor, during one of her many trips, but she had learned to never get her hopes up. Her heart had been broken often enough for her liking, and she had seen plenty of hopes and dreams being crushed in front of her eyes.

No, she'd just keep traveling, and who knew? Maybe one day she'd get lucky.

When the trio arrived at the construction site, the first thing they spotted was a large group of protesters. There were people chained to threes, people with slogans painted on both their banners and faces, and all of them were chanting various protests. It was quite a mess though, and none of them could really make out what exactly they were saying.

As they stood there, staring, they were approached by 2 people; a man and a woman, obviously part of the group of protesters. They were dressed in green and brown clothes, and both of them had the words 'Trees 'R us' painted on their cheek.

Amy thought it was a rather odd slogan, even for a group of people trying to save a forest, but she said nothing of it. Those people were probably quite proud of what they had thought off, and she didn't want to insult them.

"Great, 3 new people joining the rebellion." The man said enthusiastically. "Always glad to welcome new supporters to our group."

"Peter." The woman smacked him on the arm – clearly, she had noticed the confused looks on Amy, Rory and the Doctor's faces. "Behave, and don't bother potential new supporters like that; you'll scare them away."

She then turned to face the Doctor, Amy, and Rory, an apologetic smile on her face.

"I must apologize for my brother. Ever since he found out about the forest being cut down to be replaced by some new buildings, he's been somewhat..." "Over-enthusiastic?" Rory finished politely, and the woman nodded.

"You could say that."

"Well, you would be too if those trees were the only thing that kept you alive!" Peter began, but the woman shushed him.

"I don't think they're interested in your environment-rant, Pete." She began, but was interrupted by the 'oh no it's okay I don't mind's from Rory, Amy. The Doctor, however, spoke up.

"Yes, thank you. I'm the Doctor, this is Amy and her husband Rory. We wanted to ask you a few questions, if that's okay with you?"

The woman nodded. "I'm Claire, and this idiot bloke next to me is my brother Peter. And sure, go ahead."

"Thank you. First of all; why are you all protesting here? Isn't it a bit... hippie, for the 32nd century?"

Claire shrugged, but before she could answer, Peter had already taken the opportunity to put in his 2 cents.

"Because nothing else works! We've tried petitions, letters to the government, talking to the construction workers and their chief... but no one would listen! So we decided to try old-fashioned manpower. They want to cut down every single piece of green in this area, every last tree and halm of grass, and we're not taking it! Trees are us!" he shouted, and Amy could see Claire shake her head in embarrassment.

"I swear he's normal under different circumstances. But he's right, too. I just can't stand them taking the entire forest down, and nothing else works."

In a way, it was sad how these people still had to fight for their little pieces of nature, the Doctor thought. He sometimes wished humans cared more for their environment. It'd certainly save him a few rescue missions every once in a while.

But saving a forest wasn't why he was here, and it shouldn't become his main priority. Lives of innocent children were at stake, and a few trees hardly seemed important compared to them.

"I'm sorry to hear that." He spoke sincerely, and Claire flashed him a weak smile.

"I've got another question, though. Do you know anything about the children that have gone missing?"

They shook their heads.

"No. Nothing that could help you, I mean. I suppose you've read about them in the newspaper?"

The Doctor nodded.

"Well, that's all we know." Claire said. "It's sad, though. They're only children."

"Can't say I don't think it's justified." Peter grumbled, causing him to receive a look of disgust from Claire.

"What? They're the offspring of those murderers." he argued.

"Isn't murderers a bit of a harsh term?" The Doctor asked, and Peter huffed.

"You don't know the half of it, Doctor. Now, if that was all..." he turned around and walked away, disappearing into the crowd of protesters.

Claire sighed.

"I'm really sorry about his behaviour. He just takes this a bit too seriously sometimes."

"I've noticed." The Doctor replied, while Amy muttered: "Understatement."

"But he's a good person." Claire continued. "Anyhow, I'm sorry we weren't much of a help, but I'd suggest talking to Esther."

She pointed to a woman who seemed to be closest to both the crowd and the actual construction site.

"She leads this protest, and has spoken to most of the people who work at the site. She might be able to help you."

The Doctor thanked her for her help, and as she walked away, Amy, Rory, and him made their way to the woman Claire had pointed at.

She was currently having a fierce argument with a man who seemed to be in charge a the site. Both were shouting at each other, and they already had quite the audience.

"I'm not asking you again. What have you and your people done to our children?" The man was outraged, his fists clenched against his sides. Rory wondered how much self control it took him not to start a fistfight. Then again, hitting a woman would just be rude.

"We haven't done anything to your precious children. We're not the villains here, and if you had any brains in that sawdust head of yours, you would've known that, because I told you this a dozen times already!"

They seemed to realize then they had quite the amount of onlookers surrounding them, and they slightly composed themselves. This gave the Doctor the perfect opportunity to introduce himself.

'Hello, I'm the Doctor, and these are Amy and Rory, my companions. I'm sorry, is this a bad timing?" he asked, studying their angered faces.

"No, I think we're done here." The woman said coldly, and the man stomped away, entering a cabin at the site. The Doctor presumed that was probably his office.

"I suppose this is about the missing children?" She asked, not really surprised by the confused looks of the trio.

"You're not the first ones asking." She continued, as a matter of clarification. "Which isn't that odd, considering the circumstances."

"Can't argue with that." The Doctor agreed, and the woman nodded.

"I'm Esther, leader of this group of protesters." She eyed the group and sighed. "Well, most of them. Some of them do what they like without listening to me. They're usually the mental ones. But we appreciate any form of help we an get, because we most definitely need it."

The Doctor nodded. "Understandable."

"But that's not why you're here."

She seemed to have calmed down by now, and the Doctor was glad for that. Last thing he needed was another angry female.

"Contrary to popular belief, I don't know that much about the children either. I've seen a few of them around at the site once or twice, but I never spoke to them. Its a sad thing this has happened to them. They were innocent in all this.

But I do know they have been receiving threats and so-called ransom demands." she continued, which most definitely sparked the Doctor's attention.

"What kind of threats?"

"The kind of threats that make us look suspicious. That they have to stop cutting down the trees if they want their children back, things like that."

He frowned – this hadn't been mentioned in the article. When he asked about that, Esther's reply was simple.

"They try to cover it up, afraid it'll causes more people to know about the protest and join our side."

This made sense, in a way, although the Doctor was sure she was hiding something. Something he couldn't quite put his finger on.

Suddenly, a voice sounded behind him, and his musings were interrupted.

"Esther, you're wanted at the main stage. Hourly speech, remember?"

He then noticed she had clearly been having a conversation about something important, and he slowly started backing away.

"But, if it's inconvenient, I can tell them to stall." He said, but Esther shook her head and mentioned for him to come and stand next to her.

"No, it's okay. Robin, this is the Doctor, he's just asking about the missing children."

Robin nodded, ruffling his hands through his copper-colored hair. He, too, like everyone else, was dressed in green and brown. It must be their color, Amy thought.

"Who was the first girl to disappear?" The Doctor asked, as if they hadn't just been interrupted.

"I believe it was the daughter of one of the minor-ranked workers. Riley Saunders, I believe her name was." Esther said.

"Quite a funny story, actually." Robin piped up. "She was wearing a red T-shirt and red sneakers when she was last seen, and was headed towards the forest. I think little red shouldn't have left the path. Didn't her parents tell her about the bad wolf." he chuckled, before Esther sent him away, with the message she'd be right there for the speech.

"I'm sorry, Doctor, but that's all I know. But I can't say they didn't had it coming to them." The tone of her voice darkened. "They angered the spirits of the forest. Robin was right; if the spirits are angry, the bad wolf comes out to play."

She then disappeared into the crowd, leaving a stunned Doctor, Rory and Amy in her wake.

"Well, that was unusual." Rory said after a few minutes of rather uncomfortable silence.

"To say the least." Amy added, as they followed the Doctor to the cabin the man had disappeared into a little while ago. "That was just creepy."

"Creepy or not, I think I should have a word with our chief here, aye?" The Doctor said, as he continued his way.

They were only a few feet away from the door when a boy stormed out, who bumped into Rory. The boy had straw-blond hair and was fairly short of his age.

As soon as he had murmured a quick apology, however, the boy ran off again, disappearing to god knows where.

Seeing as no one went after him, the Doctor assumed he'd be fine on his own, and knocked on the door of the cabin.

A bored "Enter" told him he could come in, and with his psychic paper in hand, he closed the door behind him, blocking him from Amy and Rory's sight.

"Hello, I'm the Doctor." he said, holding up his psychic paper. "I've got a few questions about-"

Just then, he realized he wasn't the only one in the room, aside from the man in charge of the sire. There was another person standing only a few feet away from him. She was blond, had deep brown eyes, and was probably in her mid-twenties. He knew this girl far too well, but she wasn't supposed to be here. Not necessarily here, in this place, but here, in this universe. It couldn't be, could it?

"Rose?"

**A/N-2: How mean is it I leave you guys with a cliffhanger like this? Let me know in the review box... thing. I like reviews, they're nice and make me smile :)**


	5. Chapter 4

**A/N: Updated sooner than I had planned. Sitting at home all day because of your classes being cancelled gives me more time to write, I suppose :) Let's hope life keeps cooperating like this, yes?**

"Rose?" the Doctor chocked out. "But... how?"

Rose was baffled by the sudden appearance of the Doctor. Judging by the description Amy had given her – and the fact he had introduced himself as 'The Doctor' – it was most definitely him. No one else would walk around wearing tweed suit and a TARDIS-blue bowtie, especially on a construction site. Or anywhere else, for that matter.

She wasn't entirely sure how she felt about his return, She had missed him, that was a fact she couldn't deny.

Part of her wanted to close the gap between them and kiss him like there's no tomorrow. Her heart fluttered at the thought, and she was sure she felt a slight blush creep up her cheeks.

Another, slightly bigger part of her, however, was still cross with him for leaving her behind all those years ago. She wasn't sure if he had known the human-timelord metacrisis would last, but frankly, she didn't care either. He had left her, and even though she had been happy for a little while, that happiness was soon taken away, again. And she wasn't sure if she wanted to forgive him just yet.

She was glad she already had the info she needed. This allowed her to leave, buying her more time to decide whether she wanted to kiss him or kill him. Without staring at the Doctor for too long, she turned to the man sitting behind his desk.

"Thank you for your time, mister Pryce. I'll get going now." She said, as she headed towards the door, without even as much as acknowledging the Doctor's existence.

"Rose, wait." But by the time those words had left his mouth, she had already gone.

Of course she had, he thought. After going through the same things she had one through, he'd have left him too.

He didn't blame her for hating him, not at all. She still had the 'other' him to look after, and as far as he knew, that one hadn't left her broken hearted. Yes, he could fully understand her motivation. But that didn't mean it didn't stung.

He had no idea how long he had spent staring at the door, wondering where she had gone off to, when a voice interrupted his musing.

"Say, are you going to keep wasting my time, or have you got something useful to tell me?"

The Doctor ripped his eyes away from the door and turned to face the man. As curious as he was about why Rose had been here, this was not the time to worry about them. He was here for the children, they had to be the main priority now.

"Yes, I mean no, I mean..."

He took a deep breath, before continuing.

"No, I'm not here to waste your time, I'm here with a few questions about the missing children. I've heard they're all sons and daughters of your employees, is that correct?"

The man huffed, very uninterested in what the Doctor had to say. He certainly hadn't been the first to be asking questions, and he was getting rather sick of answering them over and over again.

"Yes, but I've just answered the same questions to your little friend that just rushed out of here. Talk to her, not me. I'm busy enough as it is, with those darn protesters."

The Doctor was only half-surprised to hear this. He'd already expected that, if Rose was here talking to the people in charge, it wouldn't just be for fun. She and her... the other him – he simply couldn't make himself refer to the man as anyone other than that – were clearly working on the same investigation as he was.

But working together on this didn't seem like a smart move at the moment, not now Rose had made it pretty clear she had no interest in him. He'd seen the flash of recognition in her eyes, along with a few other emotions he couldn't quite place. But running away without even as much as a 'hello' had to mean something.

"Well, there've been a few... complications, between the two of us." he said, visualizing her kissing the other him on that beach, just before he left her behind for what he thought would be forever. "Me talking to her wouldn't exactly be a great idea."

The man chuckled, and waved for the Doctor to take a seat. As much as he hated answering questions, he was quite the expert on trouble with women, and he felt a bit sorry for the weird man standing in front of him.

"Very well then, sit down. But try and avoid the obvious question, if you please. I'm getting quite sick of those."

The Doctor nodded and sat down on a hard plastic chair, which wasn't nearly as comfortable as the ones he'd sat in back at the Byzantium.

"Can you tell me a bit about the first few kidnapping? When did you notice they were targeting the children of your employees?"

"The first kidnapping went by fairly unnoticed, and was treated like any other kidnapping. The girl who disappeared was the daughter of one of the minor employees, too, so it was treated like any other kidnapping."

"Riley Saunders, I presume?" The Doctor asked, and he received a nod in return.

"That's the one. Rather kind girl, or so she seemed. Clever, too, according to her father. Anyhow, only a few days afterwards, another child disappeared. A boy, this time, also a son of one of my minor employees. I already had my suspicions this couldn't just be a coincidence, but I paid little attention to it. I was too busy keeping those protesters at bay.

After the 3rd disappearance, however, I started receiving threats. And then I knew, Doctor. I knew those hippie tree idiots were fighting back in the worst way imaginable."

The last words seemed more like snarls, and the Doctor could see the hatred in his face. But he also knew this was the kind of information he needed.

"What kinds of threats?"

Pryce took a stack of envelopes from his desk – the Doctor suspected he'd shown those to Rose as well – and handed them to the Doctor, who opened them and read a few letters out loud.

"Stop taking down the forest or more will disappear. Tell your men to go and you will see the children again. Turn away now or the children will be gone forever."

He glanced up at the man.

"They've kept their promises, too. The disappearing children have been climbing up in rank, so to speak. First the minor employees' children disappeared, then the offspring of the more important ones..." He sighed. "My son is the only one still walking around. That's part of the reason your friend was here, I suggested she'd be his new bodyguard, making sure he wouldn't disappear as well."

The Doctor smiled – she hadn't changed a bit. Always caring about others, always willing to help. It's one of the things he'd loved about her.

"But as soon as Mike, my son, had heard about that, he stormed off. Not shortly after that, you entered, Doctor."

He nodded, thinking the boy with the straw-blond hair had probably been Mike. He was sure Rory and Amy would probably have sent Rose in the right direction when she had walked out of the office. That cheered him up a bit.

"Any idea who sent those threats?" The Doctor asked, as he handed the envelopes back to the man.

"The hell I do. It's those protester-freaks, who else?" The man exclaimed, every bit of fury visible on his face. "All they've done is whine whine whine about those trees, and I'm pretty sure there are enough lunatics in that bunch who'd pull a stunt like this!" he raged.

"Yet none of this was in the papers." The Doctor said.

"I don't want to give them more publicity than they've already got. Hate makes people famous, and them being accused of kidnapping children would set things out of control completely. The police know and are investigating the case, but I'm trying to keep it away from the media."

Pryce huffed.

"The fact that they deny everything whenever I ask them doesn't help my case either."

"So the argument back there..."

"Between me and that hag? Another attempt of finding where those kids are. Unsuccessful, of course."

He then smiled.

"But we haven't given in. Everyday we're still cutting down trees, and seeing as they numbers are shrinking every day, I think most of them are coming to their senses. They know it's hopeless to fight us."

The Doctor frowned; it sounded rather weird for protesters to just keep giving up.

"Well, that'd be all, I think, mister Pryce." the Doctor said, as he got up from the chair. "I wish you the best of luck with your project, and I will try everything in my power to find those kids and get them home."

"Don't make any promises you can't keep, Doctor." Pryce said, before the Doctor left the cabin.

About 15 minutes before that, however, a girl with blond hair had done the exact same thing. Rose Tyler had left as soon as she had recognized the Doctor, still debating as to whether or not she'd kill him for leaving her.

She nearly tripped over Amy and Rory, however, who were sitting on the small set of steps leading up to the cabin, which was set a few inches above the ground.

"Oops, sorry, in a hurry." She said, as she ran past them, before she was halted by a familiar Scottish voice.

"Rose? Is that you?"

As she turned around she was faced with the red hair and brown eyes of Amy Pond, who had gotten up from the steps to take a better look at her. As soon as she'd recognized the blond, however, she rushed towards her and pulled her into a hug.

"Oh, it's great to see you again!" she exclaimed.

"Hello to you too, Amy." She said, smiling as she hugged the girl as well.

"What are you doing here?" she asked. "I thought you were fighting aliens and stuff all through time and space?"

Rose laughed. "Well, that's exactly why I'm here."

The girls let go of each other and Amy studied Rose. She didn't look that much older since she'd last seen her, and she wondered how long it had been for her. Time travel, it was all a bit wibbly wobbly.

"The missing children, I suppose?"

Rose nodded, and then noticed Rory still sitting on the steps, eyeing the girls with confusion. Amy noticed and motioned for Rory to join the conversation as well.

"I suppose you haven't met my lovely husband, Rory Williams?"

Rory waved an awkward hello, and Rose smiled friendly.

"Rory, this is Rose Tyler, one of the Doctor's previous companions." Amy continued.

"Nice to meet you, Rory. I've heard a lot of great things about you."

He glanced over at Amy. "Exactly how do you know her?" he asked.

"I accidentally crashed in her backyard and she made me tea and we talked for hours." Rose shrugged. "Long story, remind me to tell you one day."

"Speaking of which..." Amy pointed at the cabin. "The Doctor's in there, and I'm pretty sure you've seen him, seeing as you only came storming out after he entered. Why didn't you stay?"

Rose bit her lip, looking very uncomfortable. She knew leaving had been a bit of a stupid move, but the Doctor had always been an expert at running away from things. Why wouldn't she do the same thing for once as well?

"Well, it's... complicated. Basically, I'm not sure whether I want to kick him in the shins for leaving me, or snog him senseless. So, I ran to buy me some time."

Amy nodded, completely understanding the story, whereas Rory just looked completely lost.

"I'm sorry, but how does that make sense?"

"Part of the long story." The two girls said in unison, and then giggled.

"So Rose, how have you been?" Amy asked.

"Well, my first stop after leaving Leadworth was visit the Torchwood headquarters to get my hands on some proper weapons. And after that I've basically just been all over the place. Let's just say it really helped taking my mind off things."

She smiled at Amy.

"And what have you been up to, then? I see the Doctor came back?"

Amy and Rory exchanged looks, before Amy replied.

"He did, and it was pretty amazing. But also very, very complicated."

Rose laughed. "Well, I'd love to hear that sometime. It sounds like one hell of a story.

But enough trips down memory lane, I should really be getting back before the Doctor returns." she continued. "Have any of you seen a boy with straw-blond hair running by?"

Amy paused, unsure of she wanted to tell the girl what she and Rory had seen. If she did, she'd probably leave right away, and who knew when she'd see her again?

Then again, it was probably rather important, and she knew how sensitive her relationship with the Doctor was at the moment. So she decided to compromise.

"I'll tell you where he went, if you promise you won't leave until we've had a proper trip down memory lane." The ginger girl said smiling. "And don't just run off to another time or place or something."

"Deal."

Amy pointed at the forest. "He went that way."

Rose's eyes widened in terror. 'No, not there. Crap!' she thought, and immediately started rushing away.

"Thanks, we'll speak again, but I've really got to run!" She shouted back at Amy, as she paced in the direction Amy had sent her to. This was bad, this was very not good at all. If her suspicions were correct, the odds of finding the kid would be very slim.

Just as Rose rushed off, the Doctor walked up behind them, looking rather confused at the scene before his eyes.

"Was that Rose?" He asked, and Rory and Amy nodded.

"Yeah, but she's in a bit of a hurry. It was nice seeing her again, though." She said, grinning.

The Doctor frowned. What did she mean by 'again'? Had Amy met Rose before? But how would that be possible?

He decided to shrug it off for the moment. Even though he knew Rose didn't want to see him, she was in too much of a hurry to just be running away from him. Something must be very wrong for her to be running that fast. And she obviously knew more about this whole thing than him.

"Did she tell you where she was going?"

"Into the forest. She was going after that kid that bumped into Rory a little while ago."

Mike, the Doctor realized. He quickly put the pieces together – Rose was meant to protect the kid, and was very worried about him going into the forest. So the thing that took those kids was probably in there.

He didn't care about Rose not wanting to see him – the children had to be the priority in this case. And who knew, maybe she and the other him would want to work together on this one.

How they had been able to get back to this universe was still a mystery to him. He wondered why they'd even allow going back here – the other universe was theirs to save, it was a silent agreement him and his clone had made. Showing up here could rip the whole universe apart, and hadn't they been relatively happy in Pete's world?

Well, he'd find the answers to those questions later. Now, Rose and Mike were in trouble, and he had always been here to help.

"Okay, let's back her up then." He said, as he made his way to the forest. Amy and Rory paused.

"Doctor, do you really think this is such a good idea?" Rory asked. "The girl seemed pretty cross with you."

"Yeah, Doctor. I don't think she'd be happy with you lurking around." Amy chimed in.

The Doctor turned to face the Ponds.

"I know. But those children are more important right now, they are the main priority, don't you think?"

Amy and Rory glanced at each other, and then followed the Doctor into the shadows of the forest, into the unknown danger.

**A/N-2: Chocolate chip cookie for your thoughts?**


	6. Chapter 5

**AN: I'm SO, SO sorry I've neglected this story for so long. I've got no excuse expect for the fact that, with everything in my life, I simply could not be arsed to write stuff. I'm a really, REALLY lazy writer, and I'll try and work on that. In the meantime, expect slow updates.**

**Also, this chapter is a LOT shorter than any of the others, but this is a bit I had lying around. I'm working on Chapter 6 at the moment, and I've finished the first half of the chapter already. I'm not gonna make any promises as to when it will be up, though. In the meantime, enjoy the very short chapter 5.**

_Previously; Rose ran into the current team TARDIS, and as the son of the big chief had ran towards the source of the disappearances, Rose is chasing Mike and team TARDIS is chasing both Mike and Rose._

Rose rushed through the forest, trying not to trip over the various tree logs blocking her way. The branches tugging at her hair and shirt went mostly unnoticed by her, as she had a different thing to focus on. If that kid had really gone into that forest, he was in some serious trouble.

She felt stupid for not following him sooner, but not only had his father wanted to discuss business first, the Doctor and Amy had shown up out of the blue. All these things had distracted her form her original mission – protecting those kids and getting them home safely. It had been a rookie move, which was why she was now running as if her life depended on it. She couldn't allow her mistakes to cause yet another child to disappear.

The stomping of her feet hitting the ground and the crushing of branches under her shoes sounded like gunfire in the fairly silent forest. That, in combination with the clear trail of broken twigs and quickly-created paths, made it much easier for the Doctor and his companions to follow the blonde into the forest.

In a way, it had taken the Doctor a lot of persuading for the Ponds to follow him. Despite the fact that Amy had mentioned Rose looking very worried, she was sure the girl wasn't really looking forward to the Doctor helping her out.

While they were running, however – both Ponds had decided to follow the Doctor as he had started making his way through the woods – the Doctor had explained to her that Rose seemed to know what was going on in that forest. He knew Rose was good, very good, but he doubted she could handle this on her own.

"And it's the life of many children at stake, Pond. Don't you think Rose would put aside any of her humany feelings in order to help those children?"

Amy nodded softly, still a bit unhappy with the Doctor's decision. She hadn't known Rose that long – only a couple of hours, really – but for some reason the girl had left quite an impression on her. And the way she had sped off after she mentioned the boy going into the forest… She knew the Doctor had to be right about at least one thing; she wouldn't just leave those children to die, wherever they might be.

After a few long minutes of running, Rose had finally caught up with the boy. He was standing in an open spot in the forest, staring at a large gate which showed a beautiful garden behind its fences. This only confirmed her suspicions as to what was going on, but she had no time to start deducing now. Mike had already made his way to the gate, and his hands were already wrapped around the bars.

"Mike, get away from there!" She shouted, as she sprinted towards the gate. She knew the kids in that garden, or in whatever place that lay beyond there, were most likely safe, but she didn't want to take the risk. This boy was the only child from the construction workers that hadn't been lured away yet, and she wasn't about to lose her only link to solving this and getting those kids safe.

She tried to take his arm and drag him away, but the boy slapped it aside and just stared at her with hatred.

"No. I don't care whether my dad sent you or not, I don't want to go back there!"

"But you'll-"

"Vanish?" The boy interrupted Rose before she had even properly started her plea. "I know. That's the point. I hated his plan of cutting down this forest, maybe this was he'll finally give up on it."

"But aren't you worried about what lies beyond there?" She asked in disbelief.

Mike shook his head, his messy blond hair swaying in the wind.

"Not at all. From the looks of it, it's lots better than Cardiff."

From the tone of his voice, Rose noticed he was hiding something. She knew she couldn't get him to change his mind, so she decided on the next best thing that'd get her to help the kids.

"Fine. Then I'm going with you."

He frowned. "Why? It's not like I need protection there."

"No, you don't need protection. But I made a promise to your father to keep you safe, and I made a promise to someone else to always help when I could. And right now I need to help the other children in there."

The teen shrugged as he opened the gate, clearly not too impressed with Rose's mini-speech.

"Whatever, suit yourself."

Meanwhile, Amy, Rory and the Doctor had watched the entire scene unfold from the moment Rose tried to get Mike away from the gate. The many trees surrounding the open spot provided enough shadow for them to stay out of sight of the duo arguing in front of the iron bars.

"What is she doing?" Amy whispered to the Doctor, who was just staring at the blond girl trying to negotiate with the young boy.

"I don't know, but I think it's working." He had barely finished that sentence before Rose's clear voice filled the air, telling the boy she'd be coming with him.

Immediately he emerged from the shadows, running towards the duo, with Amy and Rory in his wake.

"Rose, no!"

His voice startled Rose a bit, and even though the boy had already stepped through the gate by then, she considered not following him. Even though he had changed his face, the tone of his voice reminded her of that nightmare day at Canary Wharf, where she hadn't had the strength to hold on and was therefore trapped in an alternate universe.

She heard the same heartbreak, the same despair, and realized how this must look for him. After only just finding her again, losing her through some sort of portal, just like then.

But she couldn't let his feelings, or hers, get in the way of her mission. The kids were, had to be, her main priority. Help the kids first, deal with her feelings later.

She mouthed a soft apology to the Doctor, before turning her head away and stepping into the garden. As soon as she had passed through, she could hear the gate slowly closing behind her.

The Doctor started panicking – he couldn't lose her again, not now – and tried running even faster. But before he had even ran 2 more paces, a flash of red hair passed him by. A flash he quickly recognized as…

"Amy!" he yelled, but the ginger had already reached the gate and slipped through the small opening, before the bars had completely closed behind her.

Both the Doctor and Rory crashed into the gate, but as they tried to re-open it by tugging at the bars, both the garden and the iron fences disappeared from their sight.


	7. Chapter 6

**AN: Another chapter I think is ridiculously short, but I'm taking it a bit slow getting back into this. This is the final build-up before I'm gonna start explaining stuff (although the people who think they know where I'm headed will get virtual cookies)**

As Rose followed Mike through the gate, she was amazed by the beauty of the place she had landed in. The scenery around her looked like it had been taken from a storybook.

She found herself in some sort of palace garden, standing next to a paved road which seemed clean enough to walk on barefoot. On both sides of said road were large patches of the greenest grass she had ever seen, and at the far end she could spot a very majestic building. On the grass were various statues of what could possibly be ancient Greek gods or goddesses, and here and there were a few flower beds growing beautiful flowers.

In the distance, there were many trees, although from this point it was impossible to determine which kinds. There was a row of trees growing apples and oranges a bit more nearby, however, and the clear water from a beautiful fountain was clattering away happily a few feet to her left. This all was completed by the fact it all shimmered beautifully in the setting sun.

Rose had little time to enjoy the beauty around her, however, as a few seconds after she stepped through the gate she found herself lying face-down on the grass, a warm body resting on top of hers.

"I did not mean to do that!" A familiar voice cried out, and Rose found the weight which had forced her down on the ground disappearing. Trying to struggle up from the ground, she grabbed the hand the girl had extended towards her.

"Amy? How did you get here?"

"I ran." She replied, matter of factly. "They call me 'The Legs' for a reason."

"I've noticed…" Rose mumbled, for she had gotten quite a good look at the girl's never-ending legs when Amy had helped her up.

"What?"

"Nothing. Why are you here? Aren't you supposed to be with Rory and the Doctor?" She asked, a bit confused as to why Amy would even follow her through a weird gate that led to god knows where. It didn't seem like the most sensible thing to do. Then again, Amy Pond probably wasn't the most sensible person in the world, so maybe that even things out.

"Well, I couldn't just let you go out there on your own, could I?" Amy smirked.

"You know I can actually take care of myself, right?" the blond replied in a low chuckle.

"I know." Amy shrugged. "But we're investigating the same thing at the moment, and I thought you could use some back-up. Besides, you promised you wouldn't run off to another time or space until we'd done some catching up."

"I'm still working on the same thing, this hardly counts. And what about Rory? Won't he be worried?"

"Oh, he'll be fine. Someone has to look out for the Doctor. I swear, that brilliant guy you told me about 3 years ago; not him. He's like a baby giraffe in need of constant supervision. He even wears fezzes now." She added.

"Fezzes, can you believe it?" Rose burst into a fit of giggles. She had really missed hanging out with people just for the sake of having fun. All she had done the past few years was travel around through time and space, saving civilizations like she had done with the Doctor.

She told herself she really had to do something about that. But before she had a chance to say anything, Mike spoke up.

"Whenever you 2 are done gossiping about some doctor, can someone please tell me where we are?" he asked, his voice hinting a bit of amazement, as well as annoyance. "I mean, it's beautiful and all, but it seems… surreal."

"It is." Rose replied. "Well, sort of. If I'm correct, and I usually am, we're currently in a place only described in ancient mythology. I refused to believe this place was real. Until now, of course."

Rose ran her hand through her hair as she studied the garden more clearly. It looked quite a bit like how she had imagined this place would look. As soon as she heard about the disappearances being in Cardiff, she immediately did a bit of research in ancient history. She knew the Time Rift sometimes let a bit of history seep through, and just kidnapping kids didn't seem like a thing that was too alien.

"But what is it?" Mike asked, a bit more annoyed this time.

"The Garden of the Hesperides." Amy said, before Rose had a chance to open her mouth. Both Mike and Rose stared at Amy in astonishment.

"Yes… but how did you know that?"

Amy shrugged.

"The Doctor suggested it as a honeymoon destination for Rory and me once, but then remembered he apparently had some sort of feud with Hera or something. The golden apples were said to be very worth it, though."

Rose snickered softly. She wasn't even that surprised to hear that; the Doctor had visited so many places in his life, he had not only made many friends, but also plenty of enemies. She had heard the rumours about Liz the First, and she wouldn't be surprised if there were many people like her roaming about, wanting the Doctor's head on a plate.

"Subtitles for those of us who do not speak alien." Mike requested.

"The Hesperides are a type of nymphs, or dryads, tending a garden in the Western corner of the world. The garden itself belongs to the Greek goddess Hera, and is best known for its golden apples." Rose explained. "They enjoy singing and making music in their spare time; the music we heard before going through this gate."

Mike nodded, indicating he sort of understood.

"The big question is, however, _why_ they would take the children. What is their motive…"

"Not to mention, where are the other children now." Amy added.

With both girls lost in thought, trying to figure out their next move, and with Mike staring at them in anticipation, none of them noticed the trees, which until then had been standing in the far distance, coming closer.

"Amy, Amy, Amy!"

Rory was still calling out for his wife. The gate and the music had disappeared shortly after Amy had made her way through the portal of sorts, and the bars the Doctor and Rory had been holding had vanished into thin air.

Rory's cries were only interrupted by the soft whirring and bleeping of the Doctor's sonic screwdriver.

"Come on, work." The time lord mumbled annoyed, trying to get the gate to re-appear in front of them "It's not wood, so what is your problem?"

The screwdriver, of course, did not respond, and the Doctor began pointing it at the area more frustrated.

"Amy!"

"She's gone, Rory." The Doctor panted, still pointing the probe at the area the gate had been just a few seconds ago. He had been running as fast as he could to get to Rose in time, but in the end his efforts had been in vain. Once again, she had disappeared before him. Once again, he had been just out of his reach, and once again he had failed to save her.

And it hadn't just been Rose. Amy, who had suddenly ran past him on the way to the gate, was trapped there as well. And with the final child voluntarily stepping through that gate, he wondered how he could possibly get to the right time and place to find them in time.

"No, she's not, she can't be. Can't you get her back, Doctor?"

The Doctor shook his head. "No. Well, not yet, at least."

He put the screwdriver back in his coat pocket, and turned to face Rory.

"They went through the timerift Cardiff has been built on. It fuels the TARDIS, which is why we arrived here in the first place. Usually, the rift doesn't do much harm and just occasionally makes a person disappear or reappear from different points in time. This time, however, it's different. There's someone using the rift as a portal, and I'm pretty sure that whoever that is has been kidnapping those kids."

"But, if it's a timerift, can't you just use your sonic screwdriver to make it reappear?" Rory asked. "It shouldn't be that hard, should it?"

"I tried." The Doctor explained. "But for some reason I can't pinpoint the exact location they have been taken to, and just getting the rift back is dangerous. Who knows where we could end up."

Rory kicked a rock in frustration, before aiming his anger at the Doctor. "This is your fault!" he roared.

"My fault, how is it my fault?" The time lord exclaimed. "I didn't force her to go through that gate."

"Then get her back!"

"I don't know how!"

"Think of something!"

"I can't!"

This shut Rory up, and the entire forest had quieted down after the Doctor's outburst. The Doctor was a calm person, who rarely raised his voice. But sometimes, his emotions got the better of him. This was one of those times.

"You're not the only person who's lost someone in this, Rory." He continued, his voice a bit calmer this time.

"That blond girl... Rose, was it?" The Doctor nodded in response. "Amy said she was one of your old companions?"

"She was. And she was brilliant." He couldn't help but smile a bit at the memory of Rose,

all those happy times they'd had until she'd been ripped away from him. The fact that he had to witness a similar situation this time just pained him.

But he couldn't let himself be ruled by his emotions, not now. Too many lives were possibly at stake, and he didn't know how much time he had left to save them. He had to act fast, but not too hasty, and he had to look at this thing objectively.

"We'll get her back, Rory. Both of them." He said, his old composure returned. He patted Rory's shoulder before heading back in the direction they had come from. "We'll return to the TARDIS and plan our next move from there."

"I can save you the walk, Doctor."

Both the Doctor and Rory were startled by the sudden female voice sounding from behind them. The Doctor paused, but as he and Rory looked around, they saw nothing but trees. There was no indication as to where the voice could've come from, but the Doctor had this nagging feeling he had heard it before. He just couldn't place it.

"Doctor..." Rory started, his attention ripped away from the voice but instead focussed on his surroundings. "Wasn't this place bigger when we first arrived here?"

He was right. What had once been a 20 yard wide clearing, was now only about 5 yards wide. The trees had been closing in on them, but they had been too busy worrying to notice.

"There's no need to be afraid." The same voice spoke up again, and this time, the Doctor recognized it.

"Claire?"


End file.
